I wanted to get the 15" with dedicated graphics... but due to financial issues I got the 13" base model and upgraded the HDD.

I don't regret it! It's light, portable, powerful for modern games (I play Assassin's Creed on decent settings), the resolution of the screen is the same as a 15" Acer laptop I have at home, so I have the same real estate as some other laptops. Don't forget it's also cheaper...

13" is big enough to view a movie when you're sitting right in front of it.
it's not big enough to view a movie from across the room when you're tired and want to leave your computer on the desk. when i had a 13" mb there was no doubt i was going to be purchasing a monitor. if you have enough money to spring for a 15" mbp, maybe you could look into external monitors to go with a 13".

Staff Member

I'm in the camp that I'm pretty happy with my 15" but if I did have it all to do over again, I probably would have gotten the 13"

I bought my MBP last October, so the 13" MB had an inferior screen to the 15" and lacked FW ports. The GPU was a concern as well, but after using the 9400 on my MBP and hardly switching over to the 9600, I can safely say that concern was unfounded.

Like I said, I'm not regretting it because at the time, it did make the most sense but since apple upgraded the display panel and re-added FW, 13" would be the choice next time

I got the uMBP back in October 2008 thinking I needed the 9600 graphics for gaming with a Windows Bootcamp setup. I guess it is almost a year now, but I have yet to play a video game on the MBP. Maybe when a more attractive game comes up for me, I will say my investment was worth it.

I rather pay more upfront knowing that I may get more out of the notebook or its longevity will be longer, than to find out later I need it but can't upgrade. Of course the downside is upfront cost...

I don't need the extra power of the 15" (to get a marked improvement, you need to go with the upgraded GPU), and financially, couldn't justify the extra cost (and afford it right now). When it comes to screen real estate, I'm happy with 13", but to be fair, I came from a small 12" iBook screen. The portability is nice, but without having used the 15" I'm not sure how much difference it makes (I figure a bit).

I've got plans to buy a larger 24" screen for use at home.

No regrets here, in other words. But if you need the added juice, don't care about the extra size and weight, need the larger screen and above all, can afford it, go with the 15".

If the 15" with the same specs as my 13" were the same price, I still would have bought the 13"

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But they're not the same, hence the premium price difference and larger screen estate. I therefore stand by what I said, no one should be swayed from the better laptop due to others financial restrictions.

I like my 15 incher and plan to get the 17 inch with my next upgrade. The 13 inch is way too small for me--its harder to multi-task on such a small screen. However, I take my laptop outside my home about 3 times a year--so portability isn't a first concern for me. If it were, then I'd reconsider.

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